The Newest Recruit
by Booksaboutnothing
Summary: Galactica's newest pilot is almost superhuman. Why is he so good? Can he help take down the Cylons? And is he all that he seems?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

I had completed Viper training two days ago. I was being assigned to the Battlestar Galactica. I was led to my quarters by a marine. There were four other raptor pilots in there already. I recognized them from different broadcasts, there was Kara Thrace, better known as Starbuck. There was Louanne Katraine, known as Kat for short and Brendan Constanza whose call sign was Hotdog. Lastly there was the son the commander of the fleet, Lee Adama, affectionately known as Apollo.

"Who are you?" Starbuck asked me.

"I'm the new pilot," I replied extending my hand in greeting.

"You sure you can even move a flight stick, beanpole?" Starbuck asked joking about how skinny I was.

I scoffed at her weak joke. I'd heard this stuff my entire life it didn't bother me anymore in fact it was getting annoying to hear the same few jokes repeatedly.

"You won't be saying that when I beat your single flight kill score," I said.

Starbuck's joking attitude quickly turned serious, "Is that a challenge, Ensign?" Starbuck asked.

I straightened myself up to full height. Starbuck may have been tall for a woman, but I was pretty tall myself. I looked down into her eyes trying to discern what fuelled the fire I saw in them, but to no avail.

"It's good to have you on board," Apollo said, intervening before there was any chance for things to get ugly.

"Thank you Captain," I said not taking my eyes off of Starbuck.

"Kat, show him around the ship," Apollo ordered. "Starbuck, I need to have a word with you."

Neither Starbuck nor myself stopped glaring at each other as we were led out of the room in opposite directions.

"You must either be completely fearless or an idiot," Kat said to me as soon as we were out of sight of Starbuck.

I looked down at the diminutive woman beside me. "Why do you say that?" I asked.

"Starbuck is the best Viper pilot in the fleet, better than even Captain Adama." Kat said. "She also has a pretty infamous bad temper. You've just set yourself up for a lot to prove."

"I don't see anything wrong with that," I said. "I believe, 'go big or go home' and for me, there's no home left."

"So what's your history?" Kat inquired changing the subject.

"I was on Cloud Nine when the attack happened," I replied. "I was just content to live through this on the ship, waiting for the Cylons to come and wipe us out. But then the Pegasus showed up and realised that we might just have a chance. So I decided that if we were going to win this, I need to take out as many Cylons as I can."

"So what are you fighting for?" Kat asked.

"I don't know," I replied. "Survival I guess. There's nothing left for me in the colonies, I don't really have anybody. Revenge maybe?"

I hadn't thought about it before. Why I was fighting. Suddenly alarms went off.

"Viper pilots to the hanger decks, prepare to launch alert fighters." A voice came over the com.

"Looks like you're about to get your first combat flight," Kat said.

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The alert fighters had been scrambled for three Cylon raiders that had jumped into the system.

"Just hang back beanpole and watch how the pros do it." Starbuck said over the com.

I gritted my teeth and watched as her Viper, flanked by Hotdog and Apollo sped up to meet the three raiders head on.

"Something doesn't seem right," I muttered.

"Cut the com chatter rookie," Starbuck said. "This is an easy mission."

"No," I muttered to myself. "Something isn't right."

I angled my ship slightly to starboard.

"Hey where are you going?" Kat asked. "Stay in formation."

I ignored her orders and continued on my course. Kat adjusted her own course to follow me. Suddenly a wave of twenty Cylon raiders appeared in front of us, just barely in weapons range.

"How did you know?" Kat asked.

"I don't know," I replied. "Just shoot."

I jammed the throttle forward and soared at the Cylons. A raider flew head on at me. I weaved past it's fire and managed to angle my shit for a slight strafe. I fired off a quick burst the Cylon lost control and took out another one. I didn't have time to admire my kill as Cylon weapons fire flew past my ship from behind. I spun my Viper around and fired off an extended burst at the source. Another raider exploded. I pulled up and found myself right on the tail of another raider. The ship weaved to get away from me but I was quicker. I fired off a burst of only three rounds; all of them hit the ship in the engine. It was ripped apart and I angled down to avoid the wreckage.

"Starbuck, this rookie may be better than you are!" Kat called excitedly over the com.

I started ignoring the com chatter. It was only serving to distract me. On a hunch I spun my Viper around and found myself face to face with a two raiders. I flew directly at one, let loose a burst destroying it. I then angled sideways for a strafe and fired off a burst. The other Cylon dove to try and avoid my fire but I was able to compensate and my fire blew off the raiders port wing. The ship went spinning out of control towards Kat's Viper. Kat rolled her Viper out of the way and the damaged raider crashed headlong into the raider that had been following Kat. I looked around for another target but couldn't find any.

"Looks like they jumped," Apollo said. "Nice job there rookie."

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Back on the Galactica I was almost mobbed by the deck crew and some of the other pilots.

"That was amazing," Kat commented. "Seven kills on your first flight."

"It would have been more if the cowards hadn't jumped." I said.

"Seven kills?" Apollo asked.

I nodded in reply.

"Are you going to confirm that Kat?" Apollo inquired.

"I will definitely confirm that," Kat answered. "This kid may be the best Viper pilot I've ever seen. He's got some sort of precognition sense that's just crazy. He seemed to know that those raiders would be jumping in to our starboard, and it ended up being us ambushing them instead of the other way around."

"Well I'll speak to my father; something like this deserves some sort of commendation." Apollo said.

"No really I don't want anything," I said. "Just knowing I'm the best is enough for me."

Just then Starbuck pushed her way through the crowd.

"You did good out there," she said. "But don't go getting any crazy ideas. That was beginners luck, you're not the best yet."

"Yet being the operative word there," I said.

Starbuck glared angrily at me before storming off.

"You might want to be careful about who you choose to fight with here," Apollo advised. "Starbuck is not someone you want to mess with."

"Maybe not," I agreed watching the back of Starbuck's head.

"Look I'm going to try and get you two on friendly terms," Apollo said. "Excuse me I've got to go talk to some people."

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Well, that is chapter 1. See what happens to "Beanpole", maybe we'll learn his real name.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

I found myself meeting with Admiral Adama about an hour later in his personal quarters. Apollo had informed me about the meeting and had brought me to his father's quarters before leaving.

"Take a seat," Admiral Adama said gesturing to the couch.

I nervously sat down. "Thank you sir," I said quietly.

"What's your name?" Adama asked.

"Ensign Marcus Sittler," I replied.

"I hear you got seven kills on your first flight, Sittler." Adama said. "That's quite a feat."

"Thank you sir," I said again.

I felt incredibly odd being with Admiral Adama, he looked like my complete opposite. I was rather tall and lanky while Adama was short and stocky. I tried to push my biases towards heavier set people out of my mind.

"It's the kind of feat that would normally get a commendation but I understand that you refused that already." Adama said. "I'd like to know why."

"Sir, my job is junk as many toasters as I possibly can." I replied. "I don't need commendations to help my moral. Another chance to junk some more of those frakkers is all I need."

"I understand that," Adama said. "However, these kinds of things are good for morale. But if you won't accept a commendation that's your decision. I am however going to promote you to Junior Lieutenant."

"Thank you sir," I said one more time.

"I want you in full dress uniform and on the flight deck in an hour," Adama ordered.

"Yes sir," I replied standing up and saluting.

"Dismissed," Adama said.

I left and headed down the corridors to my own bunk. Just outside the bunk I ran into Kat.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Gotta get into dress uniform," I replied. "There's a ceremony on the flight deck in less than an hour."

"How'd you find out?" Kat inquired curiously.

"Admiral Adama told me personally." I answered.

"Alright everybody get into their dress uniforms," Apollo ordered. "We've got a ceremony to attend at seventeen hundred hours."

Everybody began getting their dress uniforms on.

"So what's this about?" Kat asked me in a whisper.

"I've already made Junior Lieutenant," I whispered back.

"Might want to be careful or the CAG might think you're gunning for his job." Kat warned me jokingly.

"I don't want his job," I replied. "I just want to junk some toasters. I have no desire to be a leader."

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"Today we bore witness to perhaps the greatest first combat viper flight in history," Admiral Adama announced to the crowd gathered in the hanger deck. "If Ensign Sittler would please step forward."

I took a deep breath, and then stepped forward in front of Admiral Adama. He was flanked by Colonel Saul Tigh on his right and his son on his left.

"Ensign Sittler, in his first combat mission managed to destroy seven enemy vessels." Admiral Adama stated. "This record is completely unprecedented. As such he being promoted to Junior Lieutenant."

Colonel Tigh handed a set of pins to Apollo. Apollo stepped forward and pinned them on by uniforms collar.

"Congratulations," Apollo said softly.

"Congratulations Lieutenant," Adama said shaking my hand.

The hang bay then erupted in applause. I looked about completely awestruck I had not been in the military very long. Most of my time had been spent in training. I had expected the people in the military to be stoic and emotionless, which is how the press portrayed them, which is how I thought I needed to be. But as I looked about at all the happy faces that were applauding, applauding for me, I realized that this was not true. They were as human as any of the civilians in the fleet. I turned and faced the crowd and finally allowed myself to smile.

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I awoke to the sound of the battle stations alarm.

"Come on," Kat yelled at me. "Suit up, Apollo and Starbuck are off ship right now so I've got the squad."

I got my flight suit on and ran down to the hanger bay.

"Where's my Viper?" I asked the chief mechanic.

"I had to take it out for a while to replace the cannons," he replied. "You'll have to fly Starbuck's Viper."

"She's not going to like that," I muttered.

However, I was not about to abandon my mission. I jumped into the Viper. The launcher sent my Viper out into space. I looked back to see my wing mates but no other Vipers were launched. I looked out to see ten Cylon raiders closing in.

"Where is everyone?" I asked into the com.

"The launchers shut down!" Kat said. "You've got to hold your own while we start launching from the other side."

"Screw that," I said. "I'll take these frakkers out myself."

"Beanpole you are not to engage the enemy on your own," came an order from the Galactica bridge. "Wait for the Pegasus alert fighters to join you. They'll be there in two minutes."

"Sorry Galactica, but in two minutes these mother frakkers will all be gone," I said.

I slammed the throttle and the ship launched forward. Two of the raiders broke of and came flying towards me.

"Only two?" I muttered at the Cylons. "You're gonna need all ten to take me out."

Enemy fire began to fly close to my ship but I was able to pull up and then dive down slightly and shoot the raider sending it drifting off into space destroyed. I then spun the ship in a corkscrew to avoid the fire of the other raider. I then pulled a tight half loop to wind up face to face with it. The raider was surprised and I was able to get off a burst to destroy.

"Two down, eight to go!" I announced.

"This kid is good," someone said on the bridge of the Galactica.

The remaining eight raiders continued on their attack run on Galactica flying right past me leaving their tails exposed.

"Bad idea guys," I said quietly.

I set my Viper on an intercept course and throttled up.

"See you frakkers in hell," I muttered as I pulled the trigger.

I fired an extended burst. The group of raiders began exploding and crashing into each other. When the debris had cleared there were only two raiders left.

"Galactica, what's the ETA on the other Vipers?" I asked.

"They'll be less than a minute," Galactica responded.

"Good," I said. "I could use an escort back to the hanger."

At that moment one of the two remaining raiders crossed in front of my nose. I angled to follow it and unleashed a burst. The raider exploded into debris. The front end of my Viper then received a ding from fire from another raider that was coming at me from above on my port side. I killed the throttle and the raider blew past. In seconds it was over. I saw the Vipers finally showing up.

"It'd be nice if you guys got here sooner to offer me some competition," I called out over the radio.

"Nice job Beanpole," Hotdog radioed. "You may just beat Starbuck's record yet."

"You keep this kind of pace up and we may just win this thing yet," Kat agreed.

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Upon returning to the Galactica I was once again mobbed as I got out of the cockpit. Before I knew what was happening I was being carried away by the maintenance staff and having booze poured all over me. I looked around at all the exuberant faces. Finally I put down and the celebration began to die down a bit.

"That was amazing," One of the female maintenance crew members commented.

"Sorry I didn't catch your name," I said.

"I'm specialist Cally," she replied.

"Well thank you Specialist," I said. "But I can't take all the credit. If you guys didn't keep these old Vipers in top shape I would probably be drifting in space."

She turned away from me clearly hiding the fact that she was blushing. I was about to say something else to her when someone tapped my shoulder.

"Admiral Adama wants to talk to you." A deckhand told me. "Now."

The tone of his voice led me to believe that this wasn't a congratulations talk.

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Well, our hero now has a whole name. Let's see what Adama wants to talk about.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

I knocked on the door to Admiral Adama's quarters.

"Come in," came his voice from inside.

I opened the door and entered, closing the door behind myself.

"You asked to see me sir?" I inquired.

"Yes I did," Adama replied standing up from behind his desk.

There was a long moment of silence between us. Adama was staring me down. Even though I was significantly taller than him he still seemed to be larger and more imposing despite his lack of height.

"You have a great deal of skill," Adama said. "You're one of the best Viper pilots I have ever seen in my entire career."

"Thank you s…"

"Don't interrupt me," Adama snapped.

I realized at his point that he wasn't very pleased with what I had done.

"What you did today was incredibly dangerous and reckless," Adama said. "You disobeyed an order and engaged a far numerically superior enemy on your own. Actions like that are likely to get you killed."

"Sir with all due respect I did manage to come out with only minimal damage to my Viper. There were no casualties on our side. I think you should be a little more grateful." I said.

"Don't get me wrong," Adama said. "I'm very thankful we have you. But ships can be replaced, we can't replace people. I don't want good pilots like you going out and getting themselves killed just because they think they have something to prove. Don't think I haven't heard about the rivalry you've already started with Starbuck."

I frowned, clearly Adama had some favouritism towards Starbuck. Normally a military man wouldn't refer to one of his subordinates by their call sign.

"Sir, I don't have anything to prove," I retorted. "I don't care what anyone else thinks about my skill. I know what I can and can't do. If I thought that ten raiders was going to be too much of a problem I wouldn't have taken them on."

"You've only flown two combat missions and yet you're talking like you've been flying for years," Adama said. "Some people might regard that as being arrogant."

"It's not arrogant if you can back it up," I snapped back.

Adama stared at me again, but this time he didn't seem quite so imposing.

"If you keep this up I will revoke your flight status," Adama said.

I felt my rage build up. He couldn't do that. I was his best pilot. He couldn't just revoke my flight status to prove a point.

"Galactica is like a family," Adama explained to me. "And like a family we do things together. We support each other. Now either you start acting like a member of this family or I'll have you mopping corridors faster than you can kill a raider."

"I can kill a raider pretty fast sir," I joked.

Adama wasn't at all impressed with my joke. I sighed, I could think of worse things than being more cautious than I'd like.

"Sir, yes sir. I will start following orders sir." I said saluting.

"Good," Adama said. "You're dismissed."

As I was leaving I passed Apollo going to see his father. Curious I decided to hang around and listen. I pressed my ear up against the door.

"So what were you talking to him about?" Apollo asked his father.

"He directly disobeyed an order and engaged the enemy by himself," Adama said.

"He survived," Apollo said.

"That's not the point," Adama argued. "He was reckless, he disobeyed orders and he nearly got himself killed."

"I don't see you giving Starbuck this lesson," Apollo said.

"Starbuck is an exception," Adama said.

"Well I don't know much about this kid yet," Apollo said. "But in two missions he has junked seventeen raiders. Now I'll admit, he needs to be a bit more of a team player. But I don't think it is right to restrict him from doing what he thinks he can. Right now he's got the mind set that he can do anything and so far it's working, and the last thing we need to do is take that away from him."

There was a pause of silence. I couldn't hear any noise through the door.

"Fine," Adama said finally. "But he's going to be flying wing with Starbuck."

"Sir I think he'd be better with Kat or Hotdog, or even me." Apollo argued.

"My order stands," Adama said.

"Yes sir," Apollo said.

I quickly scurried down the corridor away from Adama's quarters and then waited for Apollo to come by.

"Hey, there you are," I said. "I'm so new to this ship I kind of got lost and forgot where the bunk was."

It was a half truth. I had a rough idea of where to go but I still wasn't completely sure. It didn't matter, Apollo bought the lie.

"No problem," Apollo said. "This is a pretty big ship."

He led me through the corridors towards the bunk.

"So what were you talking to your dad about?" I asked.

"I think that's private," Apollo answered glancing back at me.

"Well if I'd have to take a guess it was about my behaviour on my last flight. I mean you are my direct superior officer." I said.

"Well that's a pretty accurate guess," Apollo said.

"Well what do you think about it?" I asked. "Please be honest with me."

"I think that you're either incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid and lucky." Apollo replied. "I don't even know if Starbuck could take on ten Cylon raiders and live to tell about it. You're definitely one of the best two pilots I know, which is why you're going to be flying wing with the other."

My face fell. I had been hoping he'd disobey his father. "I have to fly with Starbuck?" I asked disappointed.

"If you two can learn to work as a team the Cylons won't have a chance," Apollo said.

I didn't completely believe that myself, and I felt Apollo didn't either. But what Admiral Adama had said earlier finally got to me. He had called me arrogant. Up until that point I had looked at my boasting as confidence. But I had previously thought myself to be invincible. While I had only suffered minor damage to the nose of the Viper next time it could be worse. Perhaps learning to work as a team wasn't such a bad idea.

However, when I reached the bunk it didn't appear as though Starbuck was completely up to the idea yet.

"Thanks for knocking out my Viper's radar," Starbuck said sarcastically. "You did a good job."

"You know I took out ten Cylon raiders on my own," I said. "It wouldn't hurt you to be just a little bit impressed with that feat."

"Well aren't you just the modest one," Starbuck said.

"Oh you aren't much better," I retorted. "You have no room to talk. You've broken a lot more rules and regulations than I have."

"Well at the rate you're going you'll break more rules than me before you get more kills," Starbuck said.

"Will you two stop bickering?" Apollo demanded. "As of this moment on you are wing mates, and until you two can learn to co-operate and get along you will remain wing mates."

Starbuck glared at her CAG. I could tell that she deeply resented having to fly with me.

"Apollo you know that I'd rather fly alone." Starbuck said.

"So would I," I added.

"Well this isn't my decision." Apollo said. "You want to complain? Take it up with my father."

With that he left the bunk.

"Listen to me," Starbuck said turning to me menacingly. "I don't like you and I'm pretty sure you don't like me."

"Don't like your breath either," I said fanning the front of my face in disgust as her breath reeked of alcohol.

"Look, we don't have to be friends," Starbuck said. "But we are now forced to be wing mates. Just don't expect me to come running to your aid if you suddenly find a dozen Cylons flying up your ass."

"Really, because I didn't think you'd pass up on a kill," I said.

"If you keep up this reckless behaviour it's eventually going to catch up with you." Starbuck warned.

"You seem fine and you're the queen of reckless behaviour." I said.

"I may still be here," Starbuck said. "But there are a lot of people that aren't because of it."

I didn't have any kind of snappy remark for that. Starbuck suddenly appeared a lot more human as she stood in front of me. Flawed.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "I've got to head down to the hanger deck."

Before Starbuck could say anything else to me I left the bunk and just ran.

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What's up with that? Read on.

(Forgot to put this in earlier)

Disclaimer: I don't own Battlestar Galactica or its characters, just 'Beanpole.'


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

I was sitting in a corner of the hanger. All around me mechanics went about doing their assigned duties not paying any attention to me; most didn't even seem to notice me. As I watched them scurry about like ants I began to wonder why I was doing this.

I thought back to when I lived on Caprica. I had enrolled to be a Viper pilot to try and pay my way through college, it was probably not the best decision I had ever made. My girlfriend had been a peace activist and had broken up with me immediately upon learning of my decision. I should have been completely devastated. My girlfriend was perfect, she was beautiful, smart, she understood me. Or I thought she understood me, but after we broke up I found myself wondering if I really did know her. But I decided to put that aside, an officer does not display emotions. I became am empty shell suppressing all my emotions.

I was at the top of my class, the best pilot, but inwardly I was conflicted. I was upset with myself. Even though I was still top of the class I just dropped out of class a week before I would have graduated. The first thing I did was try to reconcile with my girlfriend, but I found out that she had moved on. She had found another guy, she had replaced me. I felt hurt, I had thought that I was irreplaceable.

My anger finally got the best of me and I ended up killing both of them. I shot them in their bed as they slept. That was the day of the Cylon attack. Nobody knew what I had done. I had hidden the bodies in the basement of the house they were staying in and then fled off planet, ending up on board the Cloud Nine. With in hours of committing the crime the Cylons had attacked Caprica effectively eliminating any chance of somebody discovering what I had done. The only person that knew what I had done was me. I looked at the Cylon attack as a blessing. It had given me a chance to start over.

Finally I had decided that I should finish what I had started. I signed up for Viper training and completed the course and wound up being assigned to Galactica. Now here I was. I had flown only two missions and once again I was regretting my decision. After everything I had done I was beginning to wonder if I this was right. If I became a hotshot pilot people might start inquiring into my past. They might find out about what I had done. I thought I'd been careful enough to cover my tracks, and the Cylons had done a good job of removing the authorities on Caprica that would have been after me, but I still had my doubts.

"Are you okay?" someone asked.

I almost jumped ten feet in the air completely startled. I had completely ignored my surroundings instead focusing entirely on my own thoughts not noticing that Specialist Cally had come over to check up on me.

"I'm fine," I replied as I watched a deckhand restock the ammunition of a Viper.

"You don't look fine," Cally said. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I'm just thinking about some of my past decisions," I replied.

Cally looked at me interested to know more.

I decided I should at least tell her something. It would be better than saying nothing and leaving people suspicious.

"I was enrolled to be a viper pilot before this all began." I told her. "But just a week before graduating I dropped out. I was at the head of my class by far."

"Why did you drop out?" Cally asked.

"When I joined, my girlfriend at the time broke up with me. She was a peace activist." I replied. "I felt I had to leave to try and reconcile with her."

"Did you?" Cally inquired.

"No," I answered flatly. "She had moved on. Found someone else. She said that I had betrayed her trust."

"If you knew she was a peace activist then why did you join?" Cally asked.

"I had to pay my way through college somehow," I replied. "Being a pilot seemed at the time like the best way to do that. I was already a decent pilot."

"I know what you mean," Cally said. "I joined to pay my way through Dental school."

"Wanted to be a dentist eh?" I asked.

"Seems kind of silly now though doesn't it?" Cally answered.

"No, the attack caught everyone off guard. I was going to college to be an aeronautical engineer." I told her.

"Cally, get back to work!" the crew chief called.

"Sorry for getting you into trouble," I apologized quickly. "But I really appreciate having someone to talk to."

"It's alright," Cally replied. "This ship is a family; we need to support each other."

I managed to force a smile and nodded. I then leaned back against the wall and slid down to the ground.

"What are you doing Beanpole?" the chief called out to me.

"Just waiting for some action I guess," I replied.

"Well I think you can rest easy," the chief said. "There won't be any Cylon activity for a while."

I nodded nonchalantly and he went back to his work. My eyes quickly picked out Cally. She was gossiping with two other deckhands as they worked on a Viper's undercarriage. My ears were feeling a burning sensation, a sure sign that they were talking about me, their voices drowned out by the noise of the hanger but my subconscious was likely picking it out.

I turned my attention to the goings on of the hanger. A Raptor came into the hanger from space. I watched as it came to a stop. The hatch on the portside opened up and the President of the colonies stepped out. I had met her once before, on Caprica, when she was still the Secretary of Education. She had come to my class about a week before I dropped out. I wondered if she would remember me.

"Hey Beanpole," someone called.

Once again I jumped nervously.

"Does everybody in this ship sneak up on everybody else?" I asked someone angrily.

"Sorry," the man apologized.

I had been introduced to him before, I couldn't remember his name but he was a Raptor pilot whose call sign was Helo.

"That's alright, you just startled me," I said.

"So what are you doing just moping about in the hanger?" Helo asked. "Why are you with the others?"

"Never was much of a fan of drink, smoking and cards," I replied. "I always preferred sports, either playing or spectating. But there's not much in the way of sports on this ship."

"Yeah if you want to play pyramid ball you should probably head back to Cloud Nine," Helo replied. "So instead you watch the mechanics go about their daily duties."

"It reminds me of an ant colony I had when I was a kid," I replied. "I was fascinated by it. It was mesmerizing."

"Well to each his own I guess," Helo said. "But you're not going to make many friends with the other pilots doing this."

I shrugged. "I'm already making friends with some the mechanics."

I turned to Helo, "So where are you going?"

Helo looked at me with an odd look on his face. I interpreted it as nervousness.

"I'm going to see my girlfriend," Helo replied.

"Is there some reason that you need to go to a specific location to do that?" I asked.

"If you're such friends with the mechanics, why don't you ask the chief?" Helo answered.

Helo turned and walked away. I stared after him somewhat confused, but then I decided to follow up on his suggestion.

"Hey chief," I called out. "What's up with Helo? Is he always so defensive about his girlfriend?"

The chief turned to look at me. "You don't know about Sharon?" the chief asked.

I thought for a second. I hadn't been keeping up with the news, the name didn't really seem to stick out at all.

"Can't say I do," I replied.

"Well," the chief sighed. "You'll probably find out eventually it's better you get it from me. Helo's girlfriend is a Cylon agent."

"What? You've got to be fraking kidding me!" I exclaimed.

"I completely understand how it happened," the chief explained. "There were two copies of the same person. I fell in love with the one here on Galactica."

"What happened to that one?" I asked.

"Cally killed it," the chief said sullenly.

A smile flickered across my face briefly. I couldn't help but be glad that a Cylon was dead, even if it caused someone emotional pain. I glanced over at where Cally was. She was currently bent over working on the inside of a Viper cockpit. I found myself staring lustily at her ass. I quickly looked back at the chief not wanting to get caught.

"When does Specialist Cally finish?" I asked.

"Not for a while," the chief said. "She has to work double shifts as part of her punishment."

"Don't you think that's a little unfair?" I asked.

"Not really," the chief replied. "I'm short staffed as it is."

"Jerk," I muttered under my breath as I walked away.

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"Frak, all I want is one Cylon to appear," I complained.

Our Vipers were patrolling an asteroid belt as mining ships. So far, not one Cylon raider had appeared.

"Stop complaining Beanpole," Starbuck reprimanded me. "Combat in an asteroid belt is a lot more dangerous than in open space."

Up ahead there was a slight flash of light as something reflect sunlight back towards us.

"Starbuck, did you just see that?" I asked.

"Affirmative," Starbuck replied. "Watch my six I'll move in to engage."

I wanted to complain but Starbuck was the senior officer. "Copy that Starbuck."

I go behind and slightly above Starbuck and watched the area as she flew towards the spot where we had seen the flash of light.

"Ha, the bugger is docked to a piece of rock!" Starbuck exclaimed. "Frak he's about to take off."

"Something doesn't seem right," I muttered. "Starbuck don't engage it."

"Why are you giving me orders?" Starbuck demanded.

"Just trust me," I said. "Turn around, fast!"

I had already spun my ship around. Three more Cylon raiders had appeared. Likely they had been hiding attached to asteroids.

"How did you know that?" Starbuck asked.

"Call it extreme intuition," I replied. "Come on let's get rid of these mother frakkers."

I slammed up the throttle and picked a raider.

"Beanpole, slow down," Starbuck said. "There's gotta be at least one more around here."

"Starbuck watch your three," I called.

Starbuck swung her ship to starboard just in time to get off a shot at a Cylon raider that had appeared from behind a chunk of asteroid. The ship had its port wing clipped and it spun out of control and impacted into an asteroid. I kept on going at my previous target keeping a watch on my port side for any other raiders that might pop out in ambush. I suddenly veered off course with my target, aimed just above a nearby asteroid and let off a burst. A raider appeared and ran straight into my fire, exploding in a cloud of debris.

"Nice shot," Starbuck commented.

"Thanks, yours too," I replied.

"You've got one on your tail," Starbuck said.

Weapons fire from a raider flew past my port side confirming that fact.

"So do you," I said noticing a raider following Starbuck.

"Set course for a pass." Starbuck ordered.

I vectored towards Starbuck and throttled up.

"Break to starboard on my mark," Starbuck said. "Mark."

I slammed my control stick to the right and just barely avoided Starbuck's Viper with my own. I then squeezed the trigger and watched as the raider was ripped apart. I glanced behind to see the raider that had been following me break apart and slam into the side of an asteroid.

"Two left," Starbuck stated. "Pick your target."

Cylon weapons fire came flying across the front of my bow and I veered hard into a climb to avoid it.

"I've got the mother frakker that's shooting at me," I said.

More fire came flying past my starboard side as the Cylon was behind me. I jerked the ship around and opened fire. It was somewhat inaccurate but I managed to clip the Cylon enough to send it into a fatal uncontrolled spin. The ship impacted against an asteroid sending chunks of rock flying in all directions. I looked up to the final Cylon ship get torn in half from fire from fire from Starbuck's Viper.

"Good job you two," came Apollo's voice over the radio. "Head back to Galactica. We're leaving the system in a few hours."

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Looks like our hero is now at least getting along with Starbuck. See what new problems arise.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

I was sitting on my bed reading a book. I suddenly was startled as a shirt was tossed at me. I dropped my book losing the page and looked up to see Starbuck.

"Hey," she greeted.

I smiled weakly. "Hi," I replied.

"You did good out there today," Starbuck said. "But I've been meaning to ask you something."

I tensed up worried about what Starbuck might ask about.

"I heard about how you dropped out of the academy," Starbuck said. "Why'd you do it?"

"It was for a girl," I replied. "Girls can make guys do stupid things some times."

"Is that why you went at me from the start?" Starbuck inquired.

"Maybe," I replied.

"So how did you know?" Starbuck asked.

"How did I know what?" I responded.

"How did you know about the Cylons? It seems like you're just able to know where they'll be attacking." Starbuck stated.

"I don't know," I answered. "I just know. I just get this instinct in my gut as to what might happen, kind of like a precognition."

"Really?" Starbuck asked.

Suddenly the ship went to alert status. I hoped that my gut instinct was wrong.

"A Basestar just jumped into the system." I said.

"No fraking way," Starbuck said.

"Everyone to battle stations," came the order over the loud speakers. "A Cylon Basestar has just entered the system."

"Frak," I grumbled getting out of bed and running towards the hanger with Starbuck behind me.

"How did you know?" Starbuck asked. "How did you know that it was a Basestar?"

"I have no clue," I replied. "It was entirely a guess. But I always seem to guess right. It's like, I just know what's going to happen just seconds before it does."

"Is that why you're able to take out the Cylons so easily? Because you know where they're going to be?" Starbuck inquired.

"We'll see when we get out there," I answered.

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Not long after I was in the cockpit of a Viper and being launched into space.

"We need to hold the Cylons off long enough for the mining ships to leave the system," Apollo said.

"Why aren't we trying to take it out?" I asked. "We've got two Battle Stars to one Basestar. We've got the superior numbers. We can do this."

"We're not looking to take casualties to take out a Basestar," Apollo replied.

"I'm with Beanpole," Starbuck said. "We've got the numbers we should use them to our advantage. Since we destroyed the resurrection ship we'll literally be killing the Cylons off."

"No," Apollo stated firmly. "We're only going to fight until our mining ship can escape. We are not putting any civilian ships in danger."

"Fine," I said. "But I'm taking out some fraking raiders."

Raiders were already closing in after being launched by the Basestar. I throttled up and Starbuck followed closely behind me.

"Turn back!" I suddenly yelled.

"Why?" Starbuck asked.

"This is a trap," I said. "They're trying to keep us here so we can't return to the Pegasus and the rest of the fleet."

"How do you know Beanpole?" Apollo asked.

"Just trust me," I replied.

"He's never wrong about these things sir," Starbuck agreed.

Apollo relayed the message to Galactica.

"All Vipers return to the hanger and prepare for an FTL jump." Came the orders from Galactica.

"And I was looking forward to taking out some toasters," Starbuck complained as we skidded to a stop in the port hanger bay.

"Jump in 5… 4… 3… 2…" the com counted down. "1…"

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"Get those ships ready to send back out!" the chief yelled.

My ship was quickly moved to a launcher with me still in it and launched out. We had emerged on the opposite side of the civilian fleet of the Pegasus.

"Pegasus, this is Apollo, what is the current status?" Apollo asked.

"We've got two Basestars in the system," Pegasus reported. "So far no contact with the either one but we have engaged Cylon raiders.

Apollo switched over to a private channel.

"How did you know Beanpole?" He asked.

My stomach was twisted into knots. I was scaring myself with the things I was predicting.

"I wish I knew," I replied barely audible.

"It doesn't matter right now," Apollo said. "Get your head in the game. We've got to defend the ships."

"Copy that," I said trying to focus on the task at hand. "Let's junk some toasters."

Apollo switched over to the squadron channel. "Okay guys, let's light 'em up."

We were finally able to see the battle between Pegasus's vipers and our own raging up ahead.

"ETA is one minute," Apollo radioed in. "Just hold on for a little longer."

Suddenly my head started to throb. I had a vision of Colonial One erupting in flames as it was destroyed by a pair of Cylons. That had never happened before. I looked about for Colonial one and spotted it behind me. I broke off and flew towards Colonial One.

"Apollo, I think something is about to happen to Colonial One," I said. "I'm going to make sure it doesn't happen."

"Hotdog, go with him," Apollo ordered.

Hotdog's Viper broke off from the pack.

"This better be worth it," Hotdog said.

Suddenly my started to throb once again and I saw Hotdog's ship getting destroyed by a Cylon raider from behind.

"Hotdog, break left, now!" I said.

Hotdog jerked his controls to his left more out of fear than anything else. A missile from a Cylon raider shot past barely missing his viper.

"How the Frak did you know what was coming?" Hotdog demanded to know.

"Just shut up and take out the Cylons," I responded. "They're going after Colonial One."

I spun my Viper around to see two raiders bearing down at Colonial One. How they had managed to get this far without being detected was beyond my comprehension. But that didn't matter; taking them out was more important right now. Fingers could be pointed later.

"I've got the lead one," Hotdog said.

"No," I said. "Get the second one first."

Hotdog ignored me and flew head on at the lead raider. I saw the second raider fall in behind the first. If the lead was destroyed it would take out Hotdog. I closed my eyes and concentrated for a moment. In my head I saw where the ship would be when Hotdog destroyed the lead raider. I slammed my throttle as fast as I could and pointed my nose at that spot. Hotdog began shooting at the lead raider, a shot hit the ship in the main sensor and it spun about in space blindly. I opened fire in front of me. The second Cylon flew into my fire and was ripped apart. It erupted in a massive explosion.

"Frak that thing had a nuke!" I yelled.

The shockwave came towards my ship. I turned as fast as I could and tried to fly away to reduced the amount of buffeting but my ship was tossed about roughly. I momentarily lost power from a slight electro-magnetic pulse. I checked my systems. My engines were only able to manage half-throttle and my port gun was damaged.

"Galactica, my ship has suffered damage," I radioed in. "I'm coming in for repairs."

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I landed in Galactica and got out of my Viper. I felt rather useless. There was a battle going on outside and I couldn't do anything to help.

"Lieutenant Sittler," Specialist Cally said saluting.

I was not used to people treating me like a senior officer yet.

"At ease," I said returning the salute.

"Admiral Adama wants you to head to the command deck immediately," Cally said.

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Hopefully things are becoming clearer as to why our hero is so good. Precognition is very useful. The how's and why's will be explained later.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

I arrived on the command deck. Admiral Adama and Colonel Tigh were in the middle watching the view-screen and giving orders. Admiral Adama turned and saw me.

"Come here Lieutenant," he ordered.

I couldn't help but worry. Doesn't of negative, pessimistic scenarios ran through my head. Being executed as a Cylon, being discovered for what I'd done on Caprica, amongst others. I tried to hide my nervousness behind an emotionless face, but it didn't seem to work.

"Is something the matter?" Adama asked me.

"No, just wish I could be out there in a Viper sir," I replied.

"Understandable," Adama agreed. "How did you know that this trap was being set by the Cylons?"

"I don't know," I replied. "I just suddenly had this sense in my head that told me that it was all a trap. But then when I got here I had this vision of the Cylons destroying Colonial One. But I had no idea they were going to use a nuke."

Suddenly I clutched my head and fell to the deck. Adama and Colonel Tigh helped me back to my feet.

"What happened?" Colonel Tigh asked.

"One raider just broke off," I said. "It's coming towards Galactica. It has a nuke."

"We've got one raider breaking away from the group," one of the command officers said.

"Get someone on it, fast," Adama ordered.

"Apollo, there is a raider breaking away. Send a fighter to take it out." The communication officers ordered.

"There's no time," I said. "Fire the flak cannons at it; it's going to fire its missile in fifteen seconds. If you're lucky you can detonate the nuke before it hits us.

"Do it," Adama agreed.

The flak cannon began firing. I felt all the eyes on the bridge glancing over at me. I could feel the tension from everyone on the command deck, wondering if I was right. I wasn't worried about whether I was right, I was worried about whether I would be able to change what I had just seen. Flashing before my eyes I had seen a nuke impacting against the Galactica and ripping it apart.

"We've got a missile in bound," someone reported.

I was sweating profusely. I nervously wiped my face. Time seemed to have slowed to a crawl. The suddenly Galactica was began shaking violently. I toppled to the ground along with everyone else on the bridge. The power on the bridge went out and everything went dark.

_This is it_, I thought to myself. _You're going to die out here_.

But nothing happened. The lights came back on.

"I want a status report!" Adama said pick himself up off the ground.

"We've got reports of brief power failures ship wide but no serious damage to report. It seems we successfully detonated the nuke before it could hit us," an officer reported. "However, we do seem to be experiencing minor problems with the ships computers and there is a great deal of residual radiation outside the ships which will make recovering the Viper's a bit difficult from this position."

"Civilian ships have made the FTL jump," another officer announced.

"Good," Adama said. "Bring the Galactica clear of the radiation. Let's take the fight to them."

"Sir they've got nukes and they're not afraid to use them." I said.

"Well so do we," Adama replied. "Launch a nuke at the nearest Basestar."

I felt another throbbing in my head. But this wasn't a vision and I blacked out.

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Somehow we survived the battle. I don't know how, when I woke up I was in sickbay. Apollo and Admiral Adama were talking to two people about me.

"What's his condition Doctor Cottle?" Admiral Adama asked.

"To be honest he seems perfectly fine," Cottle replied. "I have no idea what is wrong with him."

"And what about your test Doctor Baltar?" Adama asked.

"He is not a Cylon," Baltar said. "But I did discover something odd. I registered his brain emitting and receiving a varying pattern of radio waves. I believe we should run a brain scan."

"Good ahead do it." Adama said.

"I don't appreciate you people talking about my health without me," I said pulling myself up off the hospital bed.

They all looked completely surprised.

"I just gave you a sedative, you should be out for another six hours," Doctor Cottle said.

"Yeah well clearly I'm not," I replied. "Now will you kindly tell me what's going on."

"You passed out," Apollo said. "We've been trying to figure out what happened to you."

"Well I'm fine now, so tell me what is going on," I demanded.

"Well, we're still not very sure what happened to you," Doctor Baltar said. "We'd like to perform some medical exams, uh brain scan perhaps."

"Fine," I agreed with a sigh. "But I'd much rather be preparing for my next sortie."

"Until we know what is going on you are removed from active duty," Admiral Adama said.

"No," I said. "I am perfectly capable of flying. You can't keep me in here."

"I can and I will," Adama said.

I was furious. I felt like reaching out and strangling Adama. But then I calmed myself down. I was thinking irrationally. Perhaps he was right. I couldn't afford to black out while in the cockpit of a Viper. My shoulder sagged as I decided to give in to my commander's orders.

"Let's get this over with," I said to the two doctors.

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I stood idly by as Doctor Baltar and Doctor Cottle fussed over the results of my brain scan.

"This is quite remarkable," Doctor Baltar said.

"I'll say," Doctor Cottle agreed. "There seems to be a lot more activity in the occipital lobe than normal."

"Do you have any idea what could mean?" Baltar asked.

"Well other than that his brain seems perfectly normal." Cottle replied. "I have no idea what is going on but perhaps this is why is experiencing vision of the future."

"You mean like Extrasensory Perception?" Baltar inquired.

"I see know other possible answer," Cottle replied. "There have been reports of similar incidences in the past as well as other mental powers developing. They're usually rare and always unexplained. The only constant factor is increased brain activity which is to be expected. The how's and why's of it are still unknown though."

"That's absolutely fascinating," Baltar remarked.

"Is it dangerous?" I asked beginning to worry a bit about the health of my brain and thus my life.

"I don't really know," Cottle replied. "There definitely seems to be some serious side effects. You don't get a lot of sleep do you?"

I shook my head. "No normally I can get by on four hours of sleep."

"It does seem likely to disrupt the stages of sleep," Cottle said. "You're seems to be reaching the R.E.M. stage quickly and frequently when you sleep."

"Is that a bad thing?" I asked.

"It's hard to say." Cottle said. "The human body is designed to operate on about eight hours of sleep a day. Sedatives clearly don't work in helping you sleep and I'm not going to condone stimulants. So the only thing that I can suggest is that when you're off duty you absolutely must take it easy. No high energy activities, keep it lethargic. Try and nap as often as possible."

"That's probably the coolest advice I have ever received from a doctor," I said.

"Yeah whatever, just make sure you keep yourself well rested," Cottle said. "If you start experience any kind of trouble let me know immediately."

"If you don't mind," Baltar said. "I'd like it very much if you keep track of all your precognition flashes or whatnot in a sort of log. For my research purposes."

I was a little wary of Doctor Baltar. He was the man that designed the Cylon detection test but apparently some had slipped through, a lieutenant Sharon Valerii, who was actually a Cylon. My own gut feeling told me that it wasn't just a slip up, and my gut feelings were almost never wrong. But this request seemed harmless.

"Okay," I agreed slowly. "I'll do my best."

I turned back to Doctor Cottle. "So am I clear for flight duty once again?" I asked.

"I see no reason why you shouldn't be," Cottle replied. "Your precognition saved the President and saved Galactica and probably saved all of humanity."

I felt my face grow hot and realized that I was probably blushing. What Doctor Cottle said was true, but even it was pretty big for my rather large ego.

"Just don't let it get to your head," Cottle added.

"I'll try not to," I said as I left sickbay.

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Well there's the explanation. Nothing fancy like a Lord of Kobol, or being a Jedi. (Come on just because a Viper looks like a wingless X-wing and the Cylon raider is similar to the Rebel Alliance symbol when looked at from above?) However, clearly "Beanpole's" ESP is either developing or mutating. How and Why is still to be explained.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Good to see you're cleared for active duty," Starbuck said as I returned to the bunk.

"Thanks," I said climbing into my bed and lying down.

"You want to play some pyramid ball?" Starbuck asked.

"No thanks," I replied. "Doc Cottle said I need to try and take it easy when I'm not on duty."

"Why? What did they find out?" Starbuck asked.

"My condition tends to affect my ability to sleep properly," I answered. "So I'm supposed to take it easy as often as possible."

"What is your condition?" Kat asked.

I was somewhat reserved about answering them. I didn't know if I would be taken seriously if I told them.

"Have you ever heard of Extrasensory Perception?" I asked.

"E.S.P?" Starbuck asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, that's what this is." I replied. "Somehow it's letting me predict the near future."

"Damn," Hotdog commented. "No wonder you can take out Cylons like it's nothing, you know what they're about to do."

"That is so sweet," Kat agreed.

I pulled my pillow over my head in order to drown out the noise and light in the room and try and get some rest. Eventually I drifted off to sleep. As I slept I had a dream. I was floating through space until I was onboard the Galactica. I passed through walls, through rooms I had never seen, past people I had never met till I was in Admiral Adama's office. He was sitting at his desk read over some reports when someone knocked on his door.

"Come in," Admiral Adama said.

A woman came in. She was rather thin but still very pretty. She had shoulder length blonde hair that was pulled back in a single ponytail. She wore a set of rimless glasses.

"Who are you?" Adama asked.

Suddenly everything seemed to move in slow motion. The woman pulled a gun out from behind her back. I moved to try and stop her but as I grabbed at her arm my hand passed right through. I watched helpless as she fired three shots into Adama's chest. He stared in disbelief at me as he fell to the floor.

"No!" I cried.

Suddenly the woman turned her gun on me and fired.

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I woke up screaming. The bunk room was dark.

"Uh, what the heck is wrong Beanpole?" Starbuck asked grumpily and in a tired tone.

I didn't answer her. I jumped into my boots and ran through the corridors towards Admiral Adama's office. I skidded around a corner and found myself at Adama's office. I flung the door open.

"I'd like to know just what you think you're doing," Adama demanded angrily as I burst in.

I looked about the room. It looked just like in my dream. I was confused, everything I predicted came true very soon afterwards unless I changed fate.

"I'm sorry sir," I apologized. "I had a vision; you were assassinated by a blonde woman with rimless glasses."

"Well I haven't seen any women besides the president and my staff this evening," Adama said.

"But it was right here," I protested. "She came in and shot you three times."

"Well I'm fine," Adama said.

Two marines entered the room.

"Could you please escort Lieutenant Sittler back to his quarters?" Adama requested.

The marines each grabbed me under my arms and began to pull me back towards my quarters. As I was being dragged along we passed by a woman. My eyes widened in recognition. It was the woman from my dream. Something was a little odd though, she was wearing a Galactica uniform, where as in my dream she had been dressed in civilian clothing. She frowned at me slightly as I stared at her. I managed to slip out of the marines' grasp and I tackled the woman from behind. I pinned her arms behind her back and searched her for a weapon.

"What are you doing?" She demanded to know.

"You're a Cylon agent." I stated. "You were about to kill Adama."

The marines grabbed me and tried to pull me off the woman. They managed to get me up to my knees when Colonel Tigh arrived.

"What's going on here?" he asked angrily.

"Lieutenant Sittler is insisting that this woman is a Cylon Agent." One of the marines replied.

Colonel Tigh looked down at me, "And how do you know that?" Colonel Tigh asked.

"I had a vision of this woman assassinating Admiral Adama." I replied. "Sir my visions have never been wrong."

"I have no idea what this man is talking about," the woman insisted.

Colonel Tigh fell silent for a few moments as he mulled over the facts in his head. "I think we're putting too much faith in a few lucky guesses," Colonel Tigh said. "But on the off chance you are right; I'll have two marines posted outside Adama's quarters."

I was able to suppress my anger. I knew that I was right. I knew that this woman was going to try and assassinate Admiral Adama. I decided to be satisfied with the knowledge that Admiral Adama would be safe at least for the evening.

"Take him back to his bunk," Colonel Tigh ordered the marines.

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I was tossed roughly onto the floor of the bunk. The marines turned and left. The room was still dark but everyone was clearly awake.

"What the hell were you doing?" Apollo asked angrily.

"I was trying to protect your father from an assassin," I answered coldly as I picked myself up off the floor. "But it doesn't seem like anyone here believes me."

"We believe you," Starbuck said. "It just, how could a Cylon get on the Galactica."

"Come on, you think I don't know about the Cylon being caged up that has Helo's baby? Give me a little credit." I said. "The Cylons could infiltrate you and you'd never know it."

Apollo got out of his bed and stood in front of me. "Are you trying to say that you're a better Cylon detector than Doctor Baltar?" Apollo asked.

"Personally I don't trust him," I said. "Since Lieutenant Valerii managed to slip through his initial test. I think that he knew she was a Cylon but just didn't tell anyone."

"Those are some pretty bold accusations you're throwing around," Apollo said.

"That's because…" I started.

But I was cut off as my head started to throb. I saw the woman from earlier. She had a pistol, she was standing in the doorway to the bunk and was shooting at me.

"What happened?" Apollo asked.

I didn't reply. I grabbed a pistol and turned towards the door and fired. Another shot rang out and it hit the ceiling of the bunk. I looked to see what had happened. The woman from earlier was lying dead outside the door a pistol in the grip of her stiff left hand. I could only really see her legs, her hand and a pool of blood that was spreading across the corridor floor.

"Frak," was the only thing that Hotdog was able to say.

"Wait a minute," Starbuck said climbing down from her bed. "She looks familiar."

Starbuck bent down and examined the body. Apollo did as well.

"Wait a minute," Apollo said. "Isn't this the Cylon prisoner from Pegasus?"

"I don't know," Starbuck replied. "But I met a Cylon that looked like this back on Caprica."

"Is it dead?" I asked.

I had not moved from where I was since I had fired the pistol. I slowly sank down to the floor and sat with my legs spread in front of me rather frightened by what had happened. I dropped the pistol to the ground and just continued to stare watching the blood spread. Starbuck looked back at me with a grim look on her face and nodded.

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Security came and dealt with the matter. I was informed that Admiral Adama and Colonel Tigh would like to speak to me in the morning about what had happened but that I was allowed to rest for the remained of the night. But I wasn't about to get any restful sleep. I was tired but I was also too scared and too pre-occupied to sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about my dream and how it had nearly gotten me killed. I was afraid about what the next dream might entail. But I was also thinking about what the others thought. To them I probably looked liked a raving lunatic, right up until I killed the Cylon, and possibly even now.

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Beanpole has at least proven he's not crazy, or at least not completely crazy. But has he done enough for the crew of Galactica to trust him? And just what will his next vision be? And are the Cylons beginning to suspect something and see him as a threat? If so they may want to eliminate this threat. But will they be able to?

Random Disclaimer location: I don't own Battlestar Galactica, I just wish I did.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

I went to speak with Admiral Adama and Colonel Tigh the following morning. I felt tired but I had been unable to sleep after the incident. My adrenalin had been going full tilt and I was suffering from paranoid delusions about being put in a strait jacket and locked in a cell like the Cylon.

"Lieutenant," Adama greeted me when I arrived at his office. "Please sit down."

I quickly sat on his couch and looked back and forth between Adama who was sitting at his desk and Colonel Tigh who was standing in the corner staring at me. I tried to guess what he was thinking behind those eyes, but found myself becoming paranoid once again and decided to drop it.

"First of all I'd like to thank you for discovering and destroying the Cylon spy," Admiral Adama said.

"It was nothing sir," I said modestly. "I was just looking out for my own neck."

"I understand you're a little wary about the Cylon prisoner we have onboard," Adama said.

"I don't trust those things at all," I replied.

"I can understand that," Adama said. "I don't trust it either but I have my reasons for keeping it onboard and I expect you to respect my decision."

"Yes sir," I said respectfully.

If Admiral Adama felt that it was necessary to keep the thing on board Galactica I could tolerate that. Didn't mean I had to like it, and didn't mean that if that thing ever got loose I couldn't shoot it.

"Now I would like to discuss your, situation," Adama continued.

"What do you want to know?" I asked. "Do I know when the next Cylon attack is coming? Do I know where Earth is? Because I don't."

Colonel Tigh stepped forward furiously, "You will start treating the Admiral with respect!" he threatened.

"Saul, it's alright," Adama said. "I can understand how he might be a little antsy."

"Okay then what _do_ you want to talk about sir?" I asked.

"We have knowledge of a small resistances existing on Caprica," Adama replied. "They're largely civilians but they've managed to at least train themselves in to a moderately effective fighting force."

"How do you know this?" I asked. "I though Caprica was occupied by the Cylons."

"It is," Adama answered. "But we've been able to sneak small ships in past their defences. We're looking to do the same thing once again."

"What for?" I inquired curiously.

"We've got reports that the Cylons are interested in breeding. How or why we don't know. However we do know that the Cylons are at the least experimenting on Caprica, largely with women." Adama explained. "The plan is to send in a force to assault and gather information on these experiments and if possible make contact with the resistance."

"Why are you telling me?" I asked.

"Caprica will be dangerous," Adama said. "And nobody is better at predicting when danger will occur than you are. I am sending you Apollo and a squad of Marines to Caprica."

"Sir we might need some engineering support when we get there," I said. "Just in case we need to make repairs."

"Alright," Adama agreed. "I'll assign Specialist Cally and Specialist Socinus to the team as well. You're dismissed."

I stood up and saluted both Adama and Colonel Tigh before leaving.

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We were packed into a modified Cylon transport vessel. The ship had managed to be salvaged from when it crashed into Galactica long before I joined the crew. It was much more comfortable than a Raptor since it had been built to accommodate the much larger Cylon centurions rather than humans. The controls were completely unlike anything I had seen before.

"Are you sure you can fly this?" I asked Apollo.

He looked at me like I was crazy, "Of course I can." He replied in a cocky tone, before getting serious. "But pay attention, you're the backup pilot if I can't fly us back."

I turned around to check up on the marines and our two engineers. "You guys ready back here?" I asked.

There were nods and small affirmatives from around. I turned to Cally who was in a makeshift seat that had been put in near the 'hatch' that connected to the 'cockpit'.

"Are you alright?" I asked in a whisper.

She was the youngest member of the crew, although I was not even a year older. Everyone else was at least four years older than us. She put on a brave face and nodded but I could tell that she was scared.

"Don't worry I won't let anything happen to you," I said.

Then something happened that I did not see coming. Cally grabbed me behind the head and pulled me closer as she planted a kiss on my lips. I quickly began kissing back enjoying the sensation of our lips embracing each other. However, it was quickly interrupted by Apollo.

"Beanpole get up here for takeoff," he called back.

I gave Cally one last kiss before I worked my way to the controls with Apollo. I pulled myself into the 'seat' behind Apollo.

"Galactica we are go for launch," I said manning the radio we had put in.

"Copy that Beanpole," came the reply. "You are cleared to launch."

I gave Apollo a nodded.

"Let's do this then," Apollo said.

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We came out of the jump at Caprica right near a Basestar.

"Let's hope that they don't get suspicious," Apollo said.

"Let's start our scans for one of these breeding camp things that we're supposed to be looking for," I said.

"Hold tight," Apollo called back. "We're entering the atmosphere."

The ship began to shake roughly as it entered the atmosphere. I felt my jaw rattling about loudly with each jerk of turbulence that hit the ship. My head began throbbing. I saw the ship getting hit by a missile.

"Apollo, get the ship down, fast!" I said. "They're firing missiles at us."

Apollo didn't question, he immediately began taking evasive actions and lowering altitude.

"What's going on?" Cally called from behind.

"We're pretty sure we've been discovered," I replied. "Just hang on and it will be alright. It might be a little rough though."

"Shit this ship can't level off," Apollo said. "We're going to crash."

"No we're not," I said.

I looked forward through the narrow view screen we had.

"Aim for that lake," I suggested. "We might be able to skim it off the water and make it look like a crash."

"I still can't find the retro rockets," Apollo said. "We're coming in too fast."

I scrambled about trying to find something. My foot accidentally bumped into something. I was jerked back as the ship decelerated quickly.

"What did you hit?" Apollo asked.

"I don't know!" I replied.

"Strap in," Apollo said. "We're about to hit."

I was barely able to get back in my 'seat' and I had just buckled my restraints when the ship hit the water. My head was bounced back and forth and I was sure I had suffered some whiplash. The ship skimmed across the water. I could hear the spray as it gradually slowed down. Then as I looked through the view screen I saw a tree.

"There's a tree," I exclaimed.

But it was too late. The ship hit the tree and ripped the tree right out of the ground. I then noticed that we were flying into a forest. All around us were tree. The ship began bouncing roughly off trees tossing everyone inside around before it finally came to a stop rested on a slight angle.

"Quick let's get out," Apollo ordered, unbuckling and scrambling out the back. "The Cylons will be coming to inspect the crash site soon."

"But how will we get off this rock?" one of the marines asked.

"We'll have to find another Cylon ship," Apollo replied.

"Maybe we can protect the ship," I suggested. "This is a pretty good place to ambush them."

"Fine, get explosive rounds ready. They'll likely be sending in centurions." Apollo said.

Everyone ran and took up positions in the forest. I had a battle rifle with explosive rounds ready. However my job was to protect our two engineers.

"I'm sorry about what happened earlier," Cally apologized.

I was caught off guard. "What for?" I asked.

"I shouldn't have done that," Cally said. "I was scared."

I realized that while I might have feelings for Cally they weren't necessarily reciprocated. She had probably kissed me more as a way of quelling her fear than out of feelings for me. I felt stupid for think that there was something between us.

"Don't worry about it," I said flatly.

"We've got a transport in bound," Apollo relayed. "Ready the rocket launcher lets see if we can take them out before they land."

I got up and ran to the marine with the rocket launcher. "Give it to me," I ordered.

"What are you doing?" Apollo demanded.

"Shooting them down," I said as I hefted the rocket launcher onto my shoulder.

I pointed the barrel at a specific spot in the sky and then closed my eyes. I closed my mind to the outside world focus just on my breathing which was slowed to hibernating like levels. Then something in my mind told me to fire. I squeezed the trigger and the missile went flying. The Cylon transport suddenly appeared right in the missiles path as it slowed to land. It saw the missile in bound and tried to move but it was too late. The missile hit its target ripping the ship to pieces. I tossed the launcher back to the marines.

"Thanks," I said simply heading back towards the engineers.

Apollo looked at me in disbelief at what he had just seen but then he quickly regained his composure.

"Prepare to move out," Apollo said. "There was a set of buildings about five miles west of here. We'll try and take shelter there."

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The party is now on Caprica, but what awaits them, and will Beanpole be able to keep up his streak? Also find out whether or not the relationship between Cally and Beanpole develops at all.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

We had trudged through five miles of wilderness without seeing any sign of life. Not even a wild animal.

"It's so quiet," Cally commented.

"It's too quiet," I muttered as we emerged from the tree line.

We were up on a hill. Down below in the valley was a dirt road. Our map said that it led to an old minimum security prison.

"We should stay off the roads," Apollo said. "We have no idea if what the Cylon ground forces are like in these parts. The last thing we want to do is walk into an ambush."

"Definitely," I agreed.

"I want you to stay in the middle, warn us in case you sense anything," Apollo said. "I'll take point."

"Yes sir," I affirmed.

I dropped back to the middle of the line with Cally and Socinus. Cally was trying to avoid looking at me and was clearly unwilling to talk. I decided to take the initiative and try and force her to talk.

"Why?" I asked her.

She turned around and looked at me. "Why what?"

"Why can't you?" I clarified. "Why was it a mistake?"

"Because you're a pilot and I'm just a mechanic," Cally replied. "It just wouldn't be right."

"Is that all?" I asked. "Because I don't think that's all. I want to know what the real reason is."

"It's complicated." Cally stated simply.

"Yeah well a lot of things in life are complicated." I said frustratedly. "Now give me the explanation."

"I can't let myself get attached to you," Cally said. "Too many people keep dying, and you might be next. I can't let myself suffer loss like that again."

I felt any anger or frustration I had wash away immediately. She was young, but she had already lost a lot of loved ones. I didn't know that I this was too soon.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "But you don't have to worry about me. I don't plan on dying for a long time."

"Everyone says that, but how many of them actually follow it through?" Cally asked.

"I know I can," I said.

Suddenly my head started to pound. It hurt a bit worse than before, but it must have just been the pain combining with the whiplash I guessed. I dropped to my knees as I felt my balance starting to give out on me.

"Are you alright?" Cally asked kneeling down beside me.

"Get down!" I yelled as the pain quickly subsided.

I grabbed Cally and dragged her flat to the ground. Bullets began whizzing by overhead.

"Anybody see any metal?" Apollo asked.

There were negatives all the way around.

"They're human!" I shouted over the gun fire. "Hold your fire."

"They could be Cylons," Apollo replied.

"They're not," I said.

The gunfire from both sides suddenly stopped.

"How do you know?" Cally asked.

"I can hear them," I replied in a whispered.

"I can't hear anything," Cally whispered back.

"That's not what I mean," I corrected her. "I can hear their thoughts. They're coming around to our rear."

"We know who you are," Apollo called out. "We're here to help. Come out into the open and we can talk."

"Put down your weapons, and stand up with your hands above your head" a male voice called out from somewhere. "Or we'll open fire."

"Do it," I whispered to Apollo. "He means it."

We all tossed down our weapons and stood up, hands above our heads. A large group of human then emerged from the trees bearing rifles. I looked at the guy leading them and I recognized him almost immediately. He was a lot scruffier than the last time I'd seen him, he was definitely him.

"You're Samuel T. Anders," I stated, "Of the Caprica Buccaneers."

He stared at me, "That's right." He said. "How do you know?"

"I was big fan," I replied.

"Who are you?" Anders asked.

"We're from Galactica," I replied.

"So where's Starbuck?" Anders inquired.

"Starbuck isn't with us," Apollo answered. "Command felt that her personal feelings might jeopardize the mission."

"So what is your mission?" Anders questioned.

"We're here to try and discover information on the Cylon breeding program and to possibly evacuate any survivors." Apollo responded.

"Well isn't that just great," Anders commented. "At least we're thought of."

"Our intel said that you guys were using a high school as your base of operations," I said. "So what are you doing out here?"

"Well we tracked some of those Cylons working on that breeding program to the old prison near here," Anders replied.

"Good," Apollo said. "Then we can work together to take it out. How many men do you have with you?"

"I've got fifteen including myself, you?" Anders answered.

"We've got sixteen," Apollo replied. "Two pilots, two mechanics and twelve marines."

"You're a pilot?" Anders asked me as he looked me up and down.

I felt somewhat insulted, "You're damn right I'm a pilot," I responded. "And fraking good one at that."

"Alright, alright," Anders said trying to show that he meant no offence. "So what's your name?"

"Name's Marcus," I replied offering my hand. "But everyone calls me by my call sign 'Beanpole'."

"Well then, let's get this over with Beanpole," Anders said.

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We were able to sneak up on the prison fairly easily. However it was going to be difficult to get inside. The only gate was the front gate which was guarded by a pair of centurions. Inside the compound was a Cylon Heavy Raider, a Colonial Raptor that looked as though it were still serviceable, and a single Cylon Raider. Four more centurions patrolled about inside the compound.

"Without a doubt there's at least four of the human variety of Cylons inside," Anders said. "They're the ones that run the experiments."

"Okay we should count on them not joining the battle immediately though," Apollo said. "So here's the plan. My men are going to sneak around towards the back. We'll disable the heavy raider. You take out the two centurions guarding the gate. Beanpole, you're the most accurate shot. We can't afford to risk damaging that Raptor, so we can't take out the Raider until it takes off. I want you to shoot it out of the air. You're also in charge of keeping Cally and Socinus safe."

"No problem, sir." I said.

"Do you guys have explosive rounds?" Apollo asked Anders.

"We're starting to run a little low on them but we've got enough," Anders replied.

"Good because we're going to need 'em. Try and make every shot count." Apollo said. "Let's lock and load boys."

I stayed hidden in the trees while Apollo led the marines along the wall and Anders took his men closer to the gate. As I watched the marines made a human ladder to jump the wall and the two marines that got over first quickly took out a pair of Centurions. The two Centurions near the gate turned too go help exposing their backsides to Anders and his men. They opened fire destroying those toasters. I pumped my fist in celebrations and then turned towards my own target. The Cylon raider was powering up. It slowly lifted off the ground.

There were two more explosions as the final two Centurions were destroyed. The raider then prepared to make a strafing run at Apollo's marines. I closed my eyes and let my instincts tell me where to aim the rocket launcher.

"Shouldn't you open your eyes to fire that?" Socinus asked worried.

"Nope," I replied simply with a slightly cocky grin.

I heard the Cylon raider begin its strafing run. I waited, adjusted slight and then squeezed the trigger. I opened my eyes to watch the missile fly. The raider began to open fire just as the missile hit it square in the broadside. The ship spun wildly out of control and exploded on the far side of the prison.

"Nothing to it," I said as I tossed the rocket launcher aside.

I then grabbed my rifle and looked through the scope. Bullets had begun firing from various windows in the complex. Apollo and the marines had taken cover in the heavy raider while Anders and his men remained just outside the gates behind the protection of the wall. I watched for muzzle flashes and spotted one. I couldn't clearly see what I was shooting but I could see a torso. I compensated for bullet drop and fired. The bullet hit true to the target and the fire from that location stopped. I looked around at the other locations but I couldn't see a clear shot at any of them.

"Come on," I said to Cally and Socinus. "We've got to go join Anders."

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Cut to commercial. Buy Pepsi. Buy Honda. Buy Budweiser. The story shall continue in the next chapter. Expect a lot of action.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"How the hell do they have so much ammunition?" Anders asked me as I arrived just outside the gates with Cally and Socinus.

"I don't know," I replied. "What's the situation?"

"We're pinned down here, and the marines are stuck in the heavy raider." Anders reported.

"Give me some cover," I said. "I'm going to try and get to that Raptor. Cally you're coming with me."

"What?" She asked completely scared.

"I need someone to help me go over the systems. You know them a lot better than I do." I explained.

"On three then?" Anders suggested.

I nodded. "One… two… Three!"

On three I grabbed Cally by the wrist and began sprinting towards the raptor. I swung Cally in front of me and dove to the ground. I pointed my rifle at a window and fired off four shots. The fire stopped. I quickly scrambled to my feet and ran to the raptor. Cally was already inside. Then as I ran past a ricochet bounced off and hit me in the left forearm. I winced in pain but kept on going till I was safely inside.

"Are you okay?" Cally asked frightened.

I looked down at the wound. It wasn't too bad, the bullet had just grazed my skin in a rather nasty manner.

"I'll be fine," I said. "I just need a bandage."

Cally grabbed the med kit which was still in the raptor and quickly made a neat tourniquet.

"Alright let's see if we can get this thing going." I said.

"Sir, there's no fuel," Cally said.

"Frak," I cursed. "Is the com system working?"

Cally flipped a switch. "It's on but there's nobody to talk to."

"You forget, Apollo has a radio." I said.

I grabbed the microphone, "Apollo are you there?" I asked.

There was static on the other end but then Apollo's voice came through. "Beanpole? Where are you?"

"I'm in the Raptor." I replied. "What's your status?"

"We're pinned down in the heavy raider," Apollo answered.

"Can you get it going?" I asked.

"I'm trying," Apollo said.

Shots hit the side windscreen of the Raptor smashing it and damaging the main console. The radio went dead.

"Frak!" I cursed.

"What are we going to do?" Cally asked.

"Just stay covered and let me deal with this," I replied.

I flipped a switch on the gun setting it to full auto-fire. I waited for the shots at the Raptor to subside slightly and then I peaked out the smashed section of the windscreen. I saw muzzle flashes from a gun in the window and I squeezed the trigger. A body came tumbling out of the window to the ground. Shots began hitting the Raptor and I got back into cover.

"This is not good," I muttered. "We're too pinned down here. Apollo needs to get that Heavy raider up and running."

Just at that point I heard the sound of engines. I was hoping that it wasn't Cylon reinforcements. Then I heard gun fire. I looked out the windscreen to see the prison being sprayed with bullets by the heavy raider.

"Let's go!" I shouted to Cally over the noise of the engines.

I jumped out of the Raptor and ran towards the doors. I got my rifle ready and then burst through the door. Nothing shot at me. I kept my rifle ready as Cally followed me in.

"Come on, we've got to get in and get out, as fast as possible." I said.

Anders and his men came sprinting across to join us.

"Do you know the layout of this place at all?" I asked.

"No clue," Anders replied.

"Well let's just be nice and thorough then," I said. "Quick but not careless."

_I can't believe that little runt is ordering me around_, I heard Anders think.

I grabbed my head. "What the hell?" I muttered.

"What's wrong?" Anders asked.

"I know what you're thinking," I replied. "You don't want to take orders from me. Which is fine, I don't care. But it's a fact that I can hear your thoughts."

"What the hell are you?" Anders demanded to know as he pointed his gun at me.

"Don't hurt him," Cally said stepping between Anders and myself. "He's human just like you and me, he's just, special."

"What do you mean?" Anders asked.

"I'm basically a psychic," I replied.

"Come on get real." Anders said. "That was probably just a lucky guess."

I shrugged my shoulder, "Whatever," I said.

I didn't feel like getting into an argument at this time. Our job was to get in, discover as much as possible about the Cylon breeding program and get the hell out.

I decided to take point. I moved quickly through the fairly narrow corridors preparing for a Cylon ambush after every corner, but nothing happened. The corridors were mostly damaged a looked to be in ill repair, probably because they hadn't been used in quire a while. We checked all the rooms but found nothing. Eventually we found a wing that seemed to be in better shape than the rest of the building. There were about a dozen women hooked up to machines, tubes were running from their stomachs. They were all unconscious, likely from sedation.

"We've got to get them out of here," Cally said.

"No," Anders cut her off. "The machines are keeping them alive. They'll die before we can do anything for them, if we can do anything for them."

"We've got to do something," Cally pleaded with me.

I looked at her forlornly and shook my head. "There's nothing we can do. Anders is right. We've just got to figure out what's going on here and get the hell out."

"How do you know?" Cally asked. "How do you know that?"

"I can read his thoughts Cally," I replied. "This isn't the first place they've hit. They've tried before and they were unsuccessful, and we're not any better prepared. We've got to accept it and get out of here."

"Let's just destroy the machines and get out of here," Anders said.

He picked up a chair began smashing away at the machinery. Electrical sparks flew in the air and blue electricity jumped about inside ruined machinery. I pulled out my combat knife and hacked away at the tubes.

"We need to take a body back for intel," I said to Anders. "Think you can manage one on your own or do you want help?"

Anders grabbed one of the dead women and hoisted her up onto his shoulders in a fireman's carry. "I'm good," he said with a sleight grin.

"Good then let's get the hell out of here," I said.

We took off down the hallway. There was still the sound of gunfire at infrequent intervals, meaning that there were still a few Cylons left. We bolted outside to the Raptor. Socinus was in it already. He had managed to repair the window with a metal plate. It would obstruct visibility but it made the ship flight capable.

"Socinus did you find any fuel?" I asked.

"We found some but it won't be enough to get back to the fleet," Socinus replied.

"Then we've got to hit a Cylon depot," I said. "Anders do you know where one is?"

"There's a fuel depot just thirty miles east of here," Anders replied. "It's only lightly defended because they don't actually keep ships there."

"Then let's do this," I said.

I fired up the engines, but I still had no radio to contact Apollo.

"Let's hope he follows," I muttered as I lifted the raptor up off the ground.

I took off east towards the fuel depot.

"You're going to have to tell me where this thing is," I said to Anders.

"It's right over that ridge up ahead. You'll be right above when get over it." Anders replied.

Sure enough when we flew over the ridge there was a fuel depot below guarded solely by eight centurions. At the sight of the Raptor they opened fire on us but it was ineffectual. I went to fire the Raptor's own weapons but then realized that there was no ammo. I dove the ship down and ran two the centurions over before swooping back up. Apollo then came in on a strafing run. The confused centurions were ripped to shreds before they knew what hit them.

I landed the Raptor and shut the systems down for safety reasons as Cally, Socinus, Anders and his men jumped out and began refuelling. I was worried about air supply. The Raptor was holding it maximum capacity of people and it was fairly cramped. The air supply was likely to run out on us if we had to be in space to long. I climbed out and waved my arms at Apollo to try and get him to land.

"What's going on," Apollo asked after he had landed the heavy raider.

"We're refuelling," I replied. "The Raptor has no ammunition. My port side visibility is minimal and we're filled to maximum capacity."

"I can take two or three guys if you want," Apollo offered.

"Thanks, please do," I said. "We've got no radio though."

"Well, try and fix it, otherwise we'll just have to make do," Apollo said.

"Refuelling is done," Cally informed me.

"Alright, guys let's get out of here!" Apollo ordered.

Everybody got back into the two ships. The Raptor was a lot more comfortable with fewer people inside. I fired up the engines and took off. Apollo led the way into space, I followed close behind using him as cover.

"Get the FTL drive ready to jump ASAP," I ordered. "This might get a little dangerous."

As we took off into space I grabbed my head. I saw a Basestar launching raiders that swooped and swarmed the Raptor, destroying it.

"How do I avoid that?" I sighed to myself.

"Avoid what?" Cally asked from the navigator's seat.

"Nothing," I replied not wanting to tell her about the doom saying image that I saw. I slammed the throttle and shot past Apollo's ship. I saw the Basestar but it was further away. It launched raider and they began to swarm towards us.

"How long till we can jump?" I asked in a panic.

"Thirty seconds," Cally replied.

"Make it twenty," I said.

They Cylons were now just entering weapons range. Fire flew past me from behind.

"Apollo is firing on us!" Socinus exclaimed. "He's a Cylon!"

"No he's not," I cut him off. "He's just trying to pass off as one to escape."

Sure enough the ruse worked. Three raiders fell in behind the Raptor. I rolled right and Apollo took them out with his heavy cannon.

"At least we can use Dradis," I said as I watched three contacts disappear.

"Ready to jump in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…" Cally announced.

The FTL drive was engaged.

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The rescue mission worked, but will the intel they gathered be enough. And we all know about Baltar. What will Beanpole discover? Or are Baltar's thoughts to hidden? Cut to commercial. Buy Bell cell phones, Petro Canada supports our athletes, yadda yadda yadda blah blah blah.

Sorry for anybody looking forward to this chapter, but the Olympics is just such a captivating events. Wish I could have qualified as an aerials skier, but Canada is just so good.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

We arrived almost directly in the middle of the fleet, Apollo's heavy raider was not far behind. I saw Galactica launching alert fighters. Expected with the arrival of a Cylon ship in the middle of the fleet. It was now that the lack of radio was beginning to get to me. I was unable to listen any instructions or know whether or not it was safe to land.

I assumed that Apollo had been able to make contact with the fleet since the alert Vipers were breaking off. I made a path for the port hanger bay of Galactica and settled the Viper in slowly. I touched down for a smooth as silk landing.

"That wasn't too bad for flying one of these for the first time since my days in officer school," I commented.

That remark got a bunch of stares of disbelief from everyone onboard the Raptor. I felt a little uncomfortable.

"What?" I asked not really understanding their disbelief.

The hatch on the Raptor opened up and we were greeted by the hanger bay crew who were shouting with joy that we had returned safely.

"Get a medical team down here," I ordered to nobody in particular. "We've got a body for autopsy."

I saw Anders looking around the hanger bay in amazement.

"Wow, it's amazing," Anders commented.

"You're telling me," I said. "Never though I'd be one of the ones left."

"This Raptor looks pretty banged up," Chief Tarol said looking it over. "How did you get back here in one piece?"

"Very carefully?" I suggested with a shrug.

The number of people swarming around was almost overwhelming. Suddenly I found myself grabbed aside by someone. I turned around to see Apollo.

"Good job back there," Apollo said. "You saved all those men's lives."

I looked back at Anders and his men who were overjoyed to be on Galactica. They were already mingling with the crew and discussing what they had done on Caprica. But I could sense something in Apollo's thoughts.

"You're jealous of Anders," I said.

Apollo glared at me angrily. "You've got to stop doing that." He said furiously.

"I can't help it," I apologized. "I haven't learned how to control it. But tell me, why are you jealous of Anders?"

"Can't read that thought can you? Well I guess it's because Starbuck fell in love with him while she was on Caprica, and I just can't stand the thought of her with another guy." Apollo replied truthfully.

"Well you can't keep pushing her away still expect her to hang around," I said. "Eventually she will move on."

Apollo then stared at me. It was a long and awkward moment. I began to doubt whether or not I should have given him that advice, but then he patted me on the shoulder.

"You're right," he said simply as he finally smiled.

With that he turned and walked away, to find Starbuck I suspected. I was about to check up on how Anders was when once again I was grabbed by someone and pulled aside. Before I knew who it was, they had me behind large tool box out of sight of everybody else. I finally saw who it was who had grabbed me.

"Cally, what are you doing?" I asked somewhat surprised.

She surprised me by grabbing me and passionately kissing me on the lips.

"What was that for?" I inquired still enjoying the taste of her lips.

"Just for being so awesome out there," Cally replied.

I felt my face grow hot as I started to blush.

"Does this mean you've reconsidered?" I asked.

"Consider me, available," Cally answered.

"I'm going to consider you taken," I stated cockily. "By me."

"I think I can get used to that cocky pilot attitude." Cally said.

"You'll have to," I said with a smirk. "That's how I get through every day."

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Admiral Adama asked for myself and Anders to be present for the autopsy. It was the first time that I had actually bothered to examine the body we had taken. She had been young, probably only eighteen years old at the most. She had curly brown hair that came down to just below her shoulders. I couldn't see her eyes because they were closed. Doctor Cottle and Doctor Baltar were beginning the procedure. I stood by and watched in some what discuss trying to discern what little I knew about biology in the two doctor's conversations. I found myself struggling to stay awake. I was tired but I couldn't sleep properly. I felt I was going to have to talk to Doctor Cottle about sedative, but then I remembered that last time they hadn't worked on me.

"You feeling okay?" Apollo asked me.

"Just feeling tired," I replied. "Lack of sleep is catching up to me."

"I know what that's like," Apollo said.

I clutched my head. I could hear everybody's surface thoughts and try as I might I was unable to tune them out, nor could I make any sense of them.

"Something wrong?" Apollo asked.

"It's everybody's thoughts," I whispered. "I can't tune them out. They're getting louder."

I tried to focus on one of the voices. I couldn't tell which was which. Suddenly the voices all faded except one. It was Doctor Baltar, he was focusing on his work on the autopsy and I could hear a bunch of medical terms that made no sense to me. But then I heard a voice, an actual voice. One that had not been in the room before.

"You're not going to tell them what that is are you Gaius?" a woman's voice asked.

I followed the sound of the voice and saw a woman standing about three feet behind Doctor Cottle. She hadn't been there before and she certainly didn't look like she belonged on the Galactica. She was dressed in a rather skimpy red dress that clearly was no military issue. Doctor Baltar was looking right at her but nobody else in the room seemed to know that she was there. I could hear Baltar running through the decisions in his head. I didn't quite understand them at all but I could tell something was odd.

"What have you found Baltar?" I asked deciding to force the issue; whoever this woman was in Baltar's head I certainly didn't trust her since she seemed worried about what this autopsy might reveal. There was also something familiar about the woman but I couldn't quite place it.

Both Baltar and the woman looked at me. I stared at Baltar for a few seconds and then shifted my glance to the woman.

"Or is she not going to let you?" I inquired with a slight raising of my eyebrows.

"How can he see me?" the woman asked Baltar not taking her eyes off of me.

"I don't know," Baltar replied to her and then caught himself, realizing that he might look like he was talking to himself. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"What's this all about?" Adama asked somewhat angrily.

I was about to reply when Doctor Cottle looked at me. "Your nose is bleeding."

I reached up and felt it. My hand touched something wet; when I pulled it down I saw that it was indeed my own blood.

"Well that sucks," was all I could manage to say before I passed out.

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Well what a thrilling end to the chapter. So many questions to be answered. Will Baltar's secret be revealed and just what will happen to Beanpole? Find out, after the commercial break.

Buy Budweiser, the king of beers. Buy an iPod. Eat babies (okay I made that last one up).


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

When I woke up I was in the CAT Scan machine. Doctor Cottle must have noticed my eyes pop open.

"Don't move," he said. "The procedure is nearly over."

I obliged and lay still for the rest of the procedure.

"So what's wrong?" I asked once it was over.

"Your brain is exhibiting increased activity all over the place," Cottle replied. "It's causing disruptions to some of your automatic functions. If we can't find away to slow this down it could kill you as your body shuts down."

This news was very distressing. If I had my way I would like to go out in a blaze of glory taking a million Cylons with me, now I'd just learned that I'd likely die in a hospital bed as my body slowly shut itself down.

"What can you do?" I asked.

"I don't know," Cottle replied. "The brain is still a rather unknown organ. But tell me, since I last examined you, you've gained some new abilities."

"I seem to be able to read thoughts," I replied.

Doctor Cottle looked at me with a slightly worried expression.

"Don't worry I can't read all your dark secrets," I laughed. "Just surface thoughts and I don't hear them all the time. It comes and goes seemingly at random."

"Judging by the activity in your brain I don't think so," Cottle said. "This just a theory, but perhaps your subconscious is capable of only bringing the important ones to the surface."

"I don't know," I said. "I know as much as you do."

"What were you talking to Baltar about earlier?" Cottle asked.

I thought about what I was going to answer. I didn't want to accuse Baltar of anything until I could find out just what I saw back at the autopsy. The last thing that I needed to do was go about declaring myself to be the perfect Cylon detector because I can read minds. That would get people staying away from me for fear of me learning their secrets. It was already bad enough that some people knew, and I had no idea what rumours were spreading across the ship.

"It was nothing Doc," I finally replied. "Baltar just has some weird fantasies."

Cottle gave me a slightly bemused look. "That doesn't surprise me," he said with a half smile.

"So can I go?" I asked.

"Yes," Cottle replied. "But until further notice you're on medical leave. I can't risk allowing you to given that you're prone to black outs and headaches at random."

I was disappointed but I could understand why. I got my uniform back on and was leaving sickbay when I was stopped by Starbuck.

"What's up?" I asked her.

"Admiral Adama wants to talk to you," she replied.

"About what?" I inquired.

"He wants to put your talents to work." Starbuck answered being rather vague.

Out of pure curiosity I decided to follow her and find out what Adama had in mind. She led me to a section of the ship near the brig. I found Adama waiting outside a closed door with Helo.

"Good to see that you're up and about Lieutenant," Adama said.

"Thank you sir," I replied saluting. "So, uh, what do you want me to do?"

"I want to see if you can use your mind reading abilities for me." Adama explained.

"Sir I haven't quite figured out how to use them yet." I told him.

"Yes, but she doesn't know that. She's only heard the rumours running about the ship and they're rather extraordinary." Adama said referring to the Cylon prisoner.

That got my curiosity going once again. "Like what?" I asked.

"The rumour going around is that you can find anything out just by staring into a person's eyes," Helo replied. "Personally I think it's a load of crap."

I looked in Helo's eyes, "No you don't," I said with a crooked smile.

Helo's mouth fell open. "How…?" he stammered.

"You're just a terrible liar," I replied.

I turned to Admiral Adama, "I'll give it a shot sir," I said.

He nodded and led me into the room. In the middle of the room was a caged cell. Two marines stood guard around it. Inside was only a single bed. On that bed lay what appeared to be a normal woman of oriental decent. The marines opened the door to the cell allowing Admiral Adama and myself to enter. Helo watched from outside, I noticed a sad look on his face. I couldn't help but wonder just how confused his emotions were.

"What's this about?" the woman asked.

"I'm sure you've heard the rumours going around this ship Sharon, about a man that can read people's thoughts. Learn their secrets and the like." Adama answered.

"They're just rumours," Boomer said.

Adama looked at me so as to ask me to provide some kind of truth. I didn't need psychic powers to know that she was scared of it being true. She was trying to hide it but I could still see it in her body language. I'm sure Adama could as well.

"She's frightened," I said.

"That's good to know," Adama said not taking his eyes off the Cylon. "Now are you going to tell me who the remaining Cylons in the fleet are? Or do I have to set him on your mind because it won't be pleasant."

I tried to focus on the Cylon's mind but I was getting nothing. It was as though her mind wasn't there. But then I got a flicker. It was smug delight at trying to trick us.

"You haven't won yet," I said to her. "I'll find what I want eventually, even if I have to rip apart your mind to get it."

The Cylon sitting on the cot across from me let a flicker of disappoint flash across her otherwise emotionless face. I felt a bit of triumph, I had at least her scared.

"Keep asking questions," I whispered to Adama. "I'll eventually get something."

"Tell me," Adama said. "Why do you think humans don't deserve to survive?"

"I don't know," Cylon replied.

I tuned out the sound of her voice and instead tried to focus on the sound of her mind. It was faint but I could hear it. It wasn't properly language it was gibberish, but I began to see images. They were unfamiliar to me and garbled, but then one flickered by.

"D'anna Biers!" I exclaimed.

"What?" Adama asked.

"She's a Cylon," I replied.

"How did you find out?" Boomer demanded.

"Your thoughts betrayed you." I said. "While you were trying to give Admiral Adama here some bullshit answer about why humans should be wiped out you were consciously making and effort to hide the fellow Cylons from me. But that only helped me find what I wanted to know."

Boomer frowned at me. "You would have discovered her sooner or later," she said with a shrug. "She was openly causing dissent."

"I think that's all we'll be getting today sir," I told Admiral Adama.

"Thank you Lieutenant, you're dismissed. Go get some rest." Adama ordered.

I saluted and left the holding cell. I had been given my own quarters to stay in. It was really just a converted janitorial closet that had not been in use. I was grateful for the solitude. I felt like I was never alone anymore in the military, something about civilian life that had always enjoyed. I flopped down on my cot and closed my eyes and tried to sleep. It took several hours but finally rest came to me.

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I had no idea how long I had been asleep but when I woke up I saw medics and nurses moving around beside me. Somehow I had ended up in sickbay. I sat up and looked around.

"What am I doing here?" I asked.

One of the nurse fainted at the site of me sitting up. I felt unusually cold.

"You're dead." Another nurse said.

I looked at her oddly, clearly I was not dead. I could feel my own heart beating and my lungs breathing.

"Okay, this is a pretty funny joke," I said with a fake laugh.

"It's no joke," the nurse corrected me. "You've been dead for nearly two days, we were about to perform an autopsy."

"Okay this isn't funny anymore," I said.

Then I realized that I was naked under a sheet. My skin seemed to be unusually pale but the colour was gradually returning to it.

"What day is it?" I asked.

"It's the fifteenth," the nurse replied.

I had gone to sleep on the thirteenth. I looked around, if this was a joke it was rather elaborate. Just then Doctor Cottle arrived.

"Is the body rea…" Doctor Cottle fell completely speechless when he saw me sitting up.

"Hi Doc," I greeted weakly.

"This is a miracle," Doctor Cottle said.

"You're telling me, apparently I was dead," I replied. "So what happened while I was gone?"

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Whoa, crazy stuff just happened. More explanations are to be had. Especially as to what happened in the past 2 days. Believe me, it's a good.

As for the commercials well, um, watch Smallville and watch Battle Star Galactica. Buy D&D miniatures.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Starbuck knocked on Beanpole's door. "Yo, Beanpole, get up. Admiral Adama wants to talk to you."

However there was no reply. Starbuck banged on the door louder. There was still no reply.

"Come on, this isn't time for practical jokes." She yelled.

Still not getting any kind of response she opened the door. Beanpole was lying on the bed face down, his left arm draped over the side, his right arm lying loosely beside him. Starbuck rolled him over onto his back.

"Come on sleepyhead get up," she said.

But Beanpole didn't move. He didn't even make a sound. Starbuck looked to see the gentle rise of his chest as he breathed and realized that it wasn't even there.

"Frak," Starbuck muttered under her breath.

"Somebody get a medical team in here!" Starbuck yelled.

She immediately began to perform cardio pulmonary resuscitation. But his body felt so cold. She had no long he had been like this. The medical team arrived and began rushing back to sickbay, but Starbuck didn't go with them. She stayed behind and sat on the cot and wept.

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"Wow," I commented hearing about what had happened. "So I really was dead."

Doctor Cottle nodded, "But we didn't have time to determined a cause of death. We quickly given another case to worry about."

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D'anna Biers had escaped to the Astral Queen to avoid being caught by the marines that had been sent to arrest her. However all that did was delay the inevitable. Tom Zarek was more than willing to allow the marines on board to arrest somebody that was not him or one of his allies. He had some respect for D'anna but felt that she would not make a very good ally since he didn't trust her one bit. He never had trusted journalist to do anything other than dig up dirt on other people. Something he no longer required.

D'anna had put up a fight and demanded to know why she was being arrested. But the Marines either didn't know or weren't willing to give her a reason. They followed their orders and took the woman back to Galactica where she was kept in a holding cell. Doctor Baltar had performed one of his Cylon detection test on her. Since Adama had become increasingly distrustful of Baltar he had one of his Lieutenants, Lieutenant Gaeta oversee the test. The result had been that the test had come back positive. Upon hearing this news the Cylon had tried to escape, but it was shot three times in the back by a marine. From there Doctor Cottle had been researching on the new Cylon corpse, distracting him from performing the autopsy on Beanpole.

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"Wow, I was right," I commented. "That's just, odd."

"There are rumours running around all over the ship," Doctor Cottle explained. "Doctor Baltar seems worried that you're going to replace him as the lead Cylon expert."

"Well, I don't think that will be happening," I said. "I think Doctor Baltar has a lot more experience with Cylons that I do. All I've ever done is find 'em and kill 'em."

"But that is what this war is all about," Cottle reminded me.

"Anyway, speaking of Doctor Baltar, I need to speak with him. So if you'll please excuse me." I said.

"You can't leave," Doctor Cottle said. "You just came back from the dead, I need to run some test…"

"Doc, you can run as many tests as you fraking want, when I get back." I interrupted.

Before Doctor Cottle could say anything else I got up and left sickbay.

In my wake as I left sickbay was I left a large number of scared individuals. I had no idea that news of my death had circulated the entire ship and that everybody knew about it. I nervously waved at people but that only seemed to frighten them more. Their thoughts were screaming in my head. Most of them thought I was some sort of ghost. A few thought I was either a vampire or a zombie, while a small number thought that I was a Cylon. I didn't have time to talk to them and explain what had happened. I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that something bad was about to happen soon and that Doctor Baltar was somehow involved. I kept on running through the corridors oblivious to the screams and stares. I had to confirm my suspicions.

I burst into Doctor Baltar's lab/office. He stopped talking, seemingly in the middle of conversation with the woman I had seen earlier.

"Isn't he dead?" the woman asked Baltar as she stared at me in disbelief.

Doctor Baltar was equally dumbfounded. "You… you… were… I saw… you were on a… and your… autopsy…" Baltar stammered incoherently.

"No Baltar, you're just crazy, first you see fake Cylons in your head and then you see ghosts." I explained.

"He knows about us," the woman said. "You'll have to eliminate him."

"You know I'm right here," I interrupted her. "Frak, clearly you stupid toaster weren't programmed for manners."

"So you can see her?" Baltar asked. "Then you must be in my head."

"In a manner of speaking, yes I am," I replied.

Baltar quickly clued in as to what I was implying. "Oh no, you're reading my thoughts," Baltar lamented.

"You need to kill him Gaius," the woman insisted once again.

"You know, it's really rude, to discuss murdering a person when they're in the same room and they can hear you." I said to the woman and then I turned to Baltar. "You know, this will get you in a lot of trouble Doc. Fraternizing with the enemy? And you know what? I don't think I'm the only one who knows, something tells me that someone else out there knows about this."

Baltar was staring at me with a look of absolute horror on his face. "Please don't tell anyone," he pleaded.

"You know that I can't do that," I said. "You betrayed us. You let the Cylons almost wipe us out."

"You deserved it," the woman sneered.

"Get her out of here," I said to Baltar.

"I can't," Baltar said nearly on the verge of tears.

"Yes you can," I told him sternly. "She is just the nasty part of your subconscious mind that wants to see the human race wiped out."

"Please," Baltar pleaded. "I didn't know what would happen."

"You knew the possible consequences, the possibility of the destruction of the twelve colonies," I said. "You knew, you just chose to ignore them for your own selfish interests."

Baltar leapt at me furious trying to attack but I had seen it come. I stepped aside and drove an elbow into his back send him crashing to the floor.

"Give it up Baltar," I said looking down at him. "One way or another you've lost."

I felt a rather strong hand grip me around the back of my neck. I cringed in pain. She was just a vision how could she be interacting with me? I didn't care how anymore I swung a back elbow and hit her in the temple knocking her back but she was still standing. The Cylons were stronger and tougher than normal humans but still mortal. I quickly followed up my attack by turning and tackling her knees as hard as I could bending them in the wrong direction.

"Stop!" Baltar pleaded, "Don't kill her!"

But I wasn't about to listen to Baltar. I got on top of her and began strangling her to death. She punched me in the face and I responded by dropping an elbow onto her throat crushing it. Suddenly the body just vanished. I looked over at Baltar. He was a neurotic mess. He had developed a nervous twitch and he just stared forward his eyes practically bulging out of his head looking at nothing in particular.

I stood up to go and speak to Admiral Adama. He should be the first to know what I had done. But as I did I found it hard to breathe. I clutched my chest, my lungs burned in agony.

_No,_ I thought to myself. _Not yet_. _I'm not ready to leave yet_.

But there was nothing I could do as the darkness quickly swallowed me.

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The End? I'm not sure. I'll at least write an Epilogue of sorts, it entirely depends upon my inspiration and whether I am inspired to continue the story.

Commercial – Check out Some of my other fanfics, including Return of the Bride of Venom, Smallville Revised and One Ring to Rule them All. Drink Barq's the one with Bite.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"How is he?" Cally asked Doctor Cottle.

"He's stable," Cottle replied. "But he seems to be in some sort of coma. But it's unlike any I have ever seen. He's exhibiting enormous amounts of brain activity, as though he's a major television broadcast signal. I've never seen anything like."

"Do you know what it means?" Cally asked him.

Cottle shook his head. "I'm sorry but this is well beyond my expertise. It's beyond anything at all that we as a race have discovered up to this point."

"When will he wake up?" Cally inquired.

"There's no way of knowing," Cottle replied. "He may wake up in five minutes, he may never wake up. It's entirely up to him now, there's nothing more that I can do."

Doctor Cottle walked away to fill out some paper work on his previously deceased patient.

Cally sat beside the bed and grabbed my hand. "You came back from the dead already," she said. "Please, you have to come back again."

My hand squeezed hers but otherwise there was no other movement.

"Marcus? Can you hear me?" she asked getting excited.

There was no answer. I couldn't move my body. Something was preventing it. But I could hear her. I was aware of everything that was going on around me but I was helpless to do anything about it.

_I can hear you_, I thought in my mind.

Cally glanced around the room, "Who said that?" she asked more to herself.

_Who said what_? I thought.

"Marcus? Is that you?" She asked me.

Could she hear my thoughts? Was I able to talk to her? There was nothing that I wanted to do more than stand beside her and assure her that everything was alright. I imagined myself standing beside Cally, looking down at my comatose body.

"It's going to be alright Cally," I said.

Wait a minute. I heard that out loud. It sounded just like my voice. I could still see myself standing there beside Cally and my own body. She turned and she looked at me.

"Marcus? What is this?" Cally asked.

"I don't know," I replied.

I looked down at my hands. I seemed to have a body. I reached out to touch Cally my hand made contact with her the smooth skin of her cheek.

"But you're lying right here, how is this possible?" Cally asked.

I racked my mind trying to come up with an answer for that. "Some form of astral projection or something," was all I could think to say.

"So you're a ghost?" Cally asked.

"Maybe," I answered with a shrug.

Just then a nurse approached. She was a short middle aged woman with short brown hair. "Are you okay Specialist?" the nurse inquired.

Cally looked at her a bit confused. "Yeah I'm fine," she replied.

"What's that about?" I asked her.

"I have no idea," Cally answered.

"Are you sure you're okay Specialist?" the nurse asked. "You seem to be talking to yourself."

"I'm not talking to myself," Cally protested. "I'm talking to the Lieutenant."

"Specialist if you'll just come with me," the nurse insisted.

"I am not crazy!" Cally insisted.

I stood there watching dumbfounded unable to do anything. Apparently the nurse couldn't see me. This reminded me of something but I couldn't remember what. My memory was muddy.

"Doctor Cottle, could I please have your help subduing this patient?" the nurse requested.

Doctor Cottle came over, "What seems to be the problem."

"The Specialist claims to be talking to Lieutenant Sittler," the nurse replied.

"Look I know that this is a very stressful time for you," Doctor Cottle said. "I can tell that you and the Lieutenant were, romantically involved."

"No weren't," Cally corrected him.

"Yet," I added with a mischievous grin.

Cally shot me a slightly annoyed glance and a slight elbow in the ribs. I noticed my body flinch.

"What was that?" The nurse asked.

"I'd like to know to," I agreed as I stared down into my own face.

"I just elbowed him in the ribs," Cally replied slowly.

"His body's reaction seemed concurrent with being elbowed in the ribs," Doctor Cottle. "But you didn't touch him."

"That's because he's not in his body," Cally tried to explain. "He's projecting some kind of, mental image that apparently only I can see."

"Well I can't say that this is completely surprising," Doctor Cottle said. "We have no idea just what his mind is capable of doing."

"Neither do I," I said.

"Neither does he," Cally repeated for me.

"He can hear us?" the nurse asked.

"Of course," Doctor Cottle answered. "Inside his mind he's conscious. He's just lacking control of his body. But he's still able to hear everything that goes on around him. And if he's projecting some kind of image I assume that he can at least see what is going on."

"He can interact with things," Cally said. "Or at least me. He's holding my hand right now."

It was true. I was holding on to Cally's right hand with my left hand. I swung it back and forth slightly. To Cottle and the nurse it must have looked rather odd, since they could not see me. Doctor Cottle poked in my general direction with his clipboard.

"Hey watch where you poke that," I said pushing the clipboard back towards him.

Cottle stared at the clipboard in amazement. Something had actually pushed it back at him.

"What was that?" Doctor Cottle asked Cally.

"That, was Beanpole," Cally replied.

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"This is starting to get ridiculous Doctor," Admiral Adama said. "First he comes back from the dead and now he's doing some kind of astral projection and telekinesis."

"Sir, with all due respect when a person comes back from the dead after two days we really have no idea what they can do." Doctor Cottle reminded him.

Adama just gave the Doctor a stern look that shut him right up. He looked down at my body and then at Specialist Cally.

"He certainly look rather dead," Admiral Adama commented wryly.

"I can assure you I'm not dead yet sir," I said.

The Admiral made to response to my comment.

"He assures you that he's not dead, yet," Cally passed the message on for me.

The Admiral looked about for some sort of explanation to all this.

"His projection is only able to be seen and heard by Specialist Cally," Doctor Cottle said. "How it does seem to be able to interact with the rest of the environment."

"Well isn't that just dandy," Adama said. "I'd like to know why he decided to suddenly rise from the dead and go storming off to yell at Doctor Baltar. He left the vice president in a rather useless state. He's in his room muttering something like "he killed her," over and over again."

I tried to think back, but I couldn't recall ever doing anything like that, in fact my memory of the past month was rather garbled.

"I, I don't know," I replied rather surprised that I couldn't remember.

"He doesn't seem to know," Cally replied.

"It entirely possible that everything that he has gone through has affected his memory," Doctor Cottle said. "As I've said before the brain is a very unknown organism and there's no telling what has happened to his brain."

"Well how long till he's back to normal?" Adama asked.

"We don't know sir," Cottle replied. "He may be stuck like permanently."

"Damn, that means I lost another good pilot," Adama cursed. "Not to mention my best interrogator. We've trouble with the peace movement once again. Although they don't seem to be so peaceful anymore. Rumour has it they have a nuclear warhead. I don't know how they got one but I'd really like to find out."

At that moment I felt incredibly useless. I was unable to do anything. I had no idea how far I could project my vision away from my bed. So far I had stayed within 30 feet of myself.

"Let me know if anything knew develops," Adama said as he left.

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Will our hero ever awaken from his coma? Or will Cally become a Baltar-esque character who talks to a Number Six-like Beanpole? And what happened to Baltar? Find out in the next exciting chapter.

Buy Mopar auto parts. Buy Windows XP (Because Linux doesn't advertise). Buy a bass guitar and Lego™. Or better yet a bass guitar made of Lego™. Till next time, happy consumer whoring.


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